Having failed to find Howland Island, Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan continued on the navigational line Amelia said they were following.

That line led them to uninhabited Gardner Island where Amelia landed the Electra safely on the island’s fringing reef.

For the next several nights they used the aircraft’s radio to send distress calls.

Radio bearings taken on the signals crossed in the vicinity of Gardner Island.

One week after the flight disappeared, three U.S. Navy search planes flew over Gardner Island. By then, the distress calls had stopped. Rising tides and surf had swept the Electra over the reef edge.

The Navy fliers saw no airplane but they did see “signs of recent habitation.” They thought that all the islands in the area were inhabited so they moved on. In fact, no one had lived on Gardner since 1892.

Earhart (and possibly Noonan) lived for a time as castaways on the waterless atoll, relying on rain squalls for drinking water. They caught and cooked small fish, seabirds, turtles and clams. Amelia died at a makeshift campsite on the island’s southeast end. Noonan’s fate is unknown.

Whatever remains of the Electra lies in deep water off the island’s west end.

The
Earhart Project is funded by charitable contributions. Donations by check
(payable to TIGHAR) or credit card (Visa, Discover, American Express or Master Card) may be sent to TIGHAR,
The Earhart Project, 2366 Hickory Hill Road, Oxford, PA 19363, USA, or click on
the link above to make your contribution. Confidential inquiries regarding
sponsorship opportunities for individuals or corporations should be addressed
to Executive Director Richard Gillespie (email Ric@tighar.org).

Copyright 2016 by TIGHAR, a non-profit foundation.
No portion of the TIGHAR Website may be reproduced by xerographic,
photographic, digital or any other means for any purpose. No portion
of the TIGHAR Website may be stored in a retrieval system, copied,
transmitted or transferred in any form or by any means, whether electronic,
mechanical, digital, photographic, magnetic or otherwise, for any purpose
without the express, written permission of TIGHAR. All rights reserved.